1627-5 Interviews SUN APR 07 1985 ED: FINAL
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: 1A LENGTH: 31 . 22" LONG
ILLUST: photo: Ben NOVACK, NOVAK in 1968
SOURCE: MARC FISHER And FABIOLA SANTIAGO Herald Staff Writers
DATELINE:
MEMO:
HOTEL MAN
BEN NOVACK
DIES AT 78
Mr. Fontainebleau, Benjamin Hadwin Novack, who built the glamorous Miami
Beach hotel and made it his home for 23 years, has died at the age of 78 .
The hotelier, who had suffered a stroke on March 30, died at 11 : 38 p.m.
Friday at Mount Sinai Medical Center.
"I ' ll only be stopped by God, " Mr. Novack said during his toughest
moment, in 1977 , when he lost his dream, the Fontainebleau.
In 1954 , Mr. Novack opened the crescent-shaped hotel, named after a
! country town south of Paris, and dubbed his hotel the eighth wonder of the
world. He filled it with Louis XIV furniture and art. He often said he wanted
the oceanfront luxury hotel of 1, 250 rooms to be "the world' s most
pretentious. "
Governors stayed there, kings, William Randolph Hearst, Joe DiMaggio,
Liberace, even Frank Sinatra, who got a suite named after him. Ed Sullivan
broadcast TV shows from the hotel. Karl Wallenda walked a tightrope stretched
between the Fontainebleau and the Eden Roc.
The Fontainebleau, the Beach' s largest hotel, became known the world
over. Its distinctive shape and broad beach marked postcards selling Miami ' s
sand and surf . It was also a museum of sorts, where people paid $5 just for a
glimpse of papier mche mannequins, bronze and marble sculptures and gaudy
furniture.
At the hotel ' s forefront was Mr. Novack, a fast talker who loved gold
and diamond jewelry, and particularly fancied a charm with a tiny gold
reproduction of the Fontainebleau Hotel hanging from a heavy gold chain.
Then, in 1977 , he went bankrupt. A judge stripped Mr. Novack of all his
possessions, including the hotel.
"I didn' t put anything away, " Mr. Novack said then. "People think I put
millions away. But I didn' t. A lot of people think that. Let them think.
That ' s good PR. "
For years, even after he sold the place, Mr. Novack introduced himself
as Mr. Fontainebleau. His successor as owner, Stephen Muss, only wanted the
hotel so he could call himself by that glorious name, Mr. Novack often said.
Son of the owner of a resort in the Catskill mountains of New York
state, Mr. Novack was a Brooklyn native who mispronounced words but was
terrific with numbers -- perhaps the reason why, 20 years after moving to
Miami Beach in 1940 with $1, 800, Ben Novack was worth $20 million. He started
by operating hotels, the Monroe Towers, the Cornell, the Atlantis and the Sans
Souci.
Then he decided to build his masterpiece. He did it in one year, 1954 ,
on the former estate of tire magnate Harvey Firestone. Five years later, he
doubled its size by building the 435-room Fontainebleau Towers. And in 1970,
yet another 235 rooms were added when Mr. Novack bought the adjacent Sorrento
Hotel.
His years were spiced with feuds with his three ex-wives, with the local
media, with his next door neighbor, the Eden Roc Hotel, and with Jay Dermer,
mayor of Miami Beach from 1967 to 1971 .
Eden Roc owners accused Mr. Novack of erecting a 14-story annex just to
cast a big, black shadow on the Eden Roc ' s pool and cabana areas. When pickets
who wanted to unionize doormen stopped the construction, Mr. Novack quickly
blamed the trouble on the Eden Roc. And he threatened to paint the addition
solid black.
He relented and used gray instead.
Mr. Novack, who called himself Miami Beach' s "biggest booster, " made
headlines again in 1968 when he sought to divorce his second wife, Bernice, a
high-fashion model.
A judge ordered Mr. Novack to put Bernice and their son in the
Fontainebleau penthouse, which became the site of constant arguments about
hotel valuables. Mr. Novack accused his ex-wife of emptying his safe deposit
box and whisking the contents out of the hotel.
In 1969, he married Jane Strong, who was many years his junior. This
third marriage lasted three years.
"My marriages didn't work because I gave the hotel too much time, " he
once said. "I worked seven days and seven nights a week. I was married to the
Fontainebleau. "
Mr. Novack also had a special dislike for The Miami Herald. He sued the
newspaper for libel after two stories linked the hotel with underworld
figures. After winning a front-page retraction, he dropped the suit.
Mr. Novack later blamed The Herald' s editorial stance against casino
gambling for creating his financial problems.
Short of cash and tourists, Mr. Novack was forced to file for
bankruptcy. A court approved the sale of the broke hotel to real estate tycoon
Stephen Muss. The Hilton Corp. , which managed the hotel, added to the
legendary name its own brand and the slogan "The Fontainebleau Hilton . . .
Miracle at 44th Street. "
"When Hilton put their name up, it should have been in the bathroom.
That ' s how much work they did there, " Mr. Novack said in an interview 1 1/2
years ago, when he auctioned off the hotel ' s antique furnishings that he had
kept in storage.
On the day of the auction, Mr. Novack acknowledged he had never returned
to the Fontainebleau, his home of 23 years, after the sale.
"I couldn't stand to walk into what I created, into what people say they
created. They have as much right to say they built the Fontainebleau as to say
they built the British Empire. "
Mr. Novack is survived by his son Benjamin Jr. , 29 .
Visitation will be from 7 to 9 p.m. today at Riverside Alton Road Chapel
in Miami Beach. Services will be held Monday at 11 a.m. Burial will be in New
York.
ADDED TERMS: obituary
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